I had received an invitation to ring on some teensy bells – not handbells but scarcely bigger and I was therefore quite excited because what if I could behave like I am ringing handbells? What if I could actually ring successfully by the simple expedient of "just" knowing my place and sticking to it? What if I were to be released from the tyranny of ropesight and the despair of poor handling?
I may be totally wrong here, but I have a naive fantasy that I might be able to work out the relationship between pull string/sound bell and put it to use. My relationship between pull rope/bell-hidden-somewhere-many-feet-above-my-head sounds is hazy and it changes on every bell. There are so many variables to take into consideration. How long is the rope? How heavy is the bell? How big is the wheel? I never know when the bell will sound exactly, so relying on sound alone is risky.
No such problem with virtual tower ringing. I took to this like a duck to water whilst far better ringers stumbled around at first. Some rejected it entirely because they relied on their tower experience to find their place and whatever skills they use in the tower did not easily transfer to the pretend world. You press a key and the bell strikes immediately. There is no body stretching/ rope shortening/lengthening /sally catching timing decision therefore I can ring in the correct place without drama. I count and ring. I may keep an eye on the treble or count how many bells are left over if things get slushy, especially on higher numbers, but I can manage by staring out of the window and using my ears.
Similarly, handbells ring when you tip them. Others may raise their arms in good time to be ready, but the relationship between sound and wrist action is almost immediate and straightforward. If you know that you have to ring in 5th place, then you count to 4 from the lead and ring. I don't look for anyone to follow, although keeping an eye on the treble may be necessary unless I am in charge of it myself.
Tower bells are not like that. Others seem to understand the intimate relationship between pull/strike but so far it eludes me. Being told that the bell sounds as the sally passes my nose is interesting but so far has proved not particularly useful. The natural way that I ring handbells does not translate and knowing one's place is not sufficient information for me. I need to refine how to put my bell in that place and I am continually crashing about because I don't understand how to achieve it. I am working on it but so far have not found a way to be successful.
But what if the pull/ding thing was shortened to be almost as instant as a raise arm/tip/ding thing? Might my bell drop magically into place? I don't know how I manage to raise/tip/ding a handbell in good time and rhythm but I know that I do, so I would like to try some teensy bells to see if it is a transferable skill. You never know – I could be lucky and then ropesight and other mythical things would not be required. That would be worth celebrating.
It probably is not that simple because if it were, some kind person would have noted my struggling and suggested that I try teensy bells a year ago. Since they did not, I am probably going to be disappointed when the same barrier to decent striking hits me despite the fact that nothing weighs more than a toddler.
But at least I will get to ring with some fun people and that is always welcome.
In the event, the appearance of a teensy person got in the way of my intended experiment with teensy bells. Some things are more important than bells. But no matter. I was most probably kidding myself anyway.
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